One, Two, Three
by BlindSeer0
Summary: A story about life, the people we meet, the friends we keep, the challenges we face, and the choices we make. Three very different people are forced together, an experience that will challenge their views of the world, each other, and even themselves. A real-world AU featuring Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. Warnings inside.
1. The Jester

_**Naruto**_** and its contents are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The following story is a fan work and not intended for sale or commercial use.**

**Warning: This story includes or will include attempted rape, mild violence, bullying, abuse, and STDS. Any additional triggers or explicit content will be warned for at the beginning of each chapter. There will be no lemons, but characters will be of many sexual orientations, including heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and pansexual, and in romantic relationships.**

**AN: The school system in this story is based loosely on the American public school system. For those unfamiliar with it, explanations are provided in story when possible.**

**Please read, review, and most importantly, enjoy.**

**Chapter 1: The Jester**

The school was deserted, the chill winter air having driven even the most avid partiers into the nearest bar. New Year's Eve was a time for celebrating, not studying; which is why no one was there to see a figure carrying a work ladder towards one end of the school. No one was there to see the figure carrying over buckets of paint. No one was there to see the figure get onto the ladder and start painting on the wall. As the hours passed and December became January with a loud cheer, the figure continued his solitary work, a grin plastered on his face.

Two days later the students returned to school and the news of the prank spread like wildfire. A tarp had been hung over as much of the wall as possible, but that didn't stop the entire student body from knowing that written on the wall in bright orange paint was "Welcome back to Prison. Enjoy your stay." In the same way, lack of witnesses didn't stop everyone from knowing exactly who was responsible: official school prankster Naruto Uzumaki.

School was almost over, and his smile had yet to fade. He'd been surrounded by other students all day, some wanting to know how he had pulled it off, others congratulating him with slaps on the back, even more scolding him for being immature, and all of them wondering how much trouble he'd get into. Naruto thrived on the attention. It didn't matter if it was positive or negative, and it was a rare week where he didn't do something outrageous around the school. No one had been in detention more than he had, but since none of his pranks could be traced directly back to him or were this side of legal, he hadn't been expelled, and the faculty were just resigned to wait until he tripped himself up.

It wasn't only his antics that drew attention. Naruto liked to dress in bright shades of orange, usually with something blue that people would naturally focus on when the brighter color exhausted their eyes. His face was the same, messy blond hair that fell every which way but didn't quite cover his deep blue eyes that always seemed to sparkle with mischief. The image was completed by his trademark goofy grin. Some people saw him for the first time and immediately pegged him for an idiot, but he didn't care. That meant they were noticing him, and once they were noticing him he made sure they could never forget him.

"Naruto!" At the sound of his name Naruto turned around to see Sakura Haruno standing over him with her hands on her hips, an expression of annoyance on her face, making his grin somehow grow even wider.

Like Naruto, Sakura stood out in a crowd. Her long hair fell all the way down her back, and every strand of it was dyed a pale pink, a pleasing shade that looked weirdly natural. They had been in the same schools since elementary and he had never seen her hair any color but pink. Along with her green eyes, it reminded him of spring, specifically the part where he was trapped in class during the best parts of the day, which always filled him with nervous energy. It didn't help that Sakura was usually the one scolding him for not paying attention in class, making that impression even stronger.

A few years ago, she had decided for some reason that she would be the one to get Naruto to pay attention and behave, not something she was ever going to succeed at, but he admired her for trying. For years, Sakura had been Naruto's not so secret crush and a good number of his pranks were aimed at getting her to pay attention to him. She was beautiful, smart, and well mannered, a perfect match for the handsome, hilarious, imaginative, and soon-to-be famous man that Naruto considered himself to be.

"Hey Sakura, want to go out-" he started to say before she cut him off.

"How could you do something so immature," Sakura snapped. "Dropping erasers on people's heads is one thing, but defacing school property is illegal. You could be expelled or worse, arrested!"

"I didn't do it, Sakura," said Naruto with a feigned look of innocence on his face. "As I've been telling everyone else, I have no idea who painted that wall. Why does everyone think I would do something like that? However," he continued, "if I HAD done it, it would be because I knew that that wall of the school is scheduled to be repainted next week anyways," he finished with a grin.

Sakura just gaped at him. "How would you know that?"

"They talked about it at the last PTSA meeting before break," said Naruto.

"_You_ attended a PTSA meeting?" Sakura's disbelief was written all over her face.

"I'm hurt that you don't think that I care about this school!" Naruto said dramatically. "Plus," the grin returning to his face, "I always like to be prepared, just in case."

"You cheeky little-" Sakura began, but at that moment the bell rang and their English teacher walked in.

"Everyone to your seats, we have a lot to go over today."

As everyone sat down, he continued "As Juniors you have only one and a half years left of high school before you graduate. As is the tradition of our school, before you can do that, you need to complete your Senior Project. I'll pass out the instructions now, but to put it simply you're allowed to do anything, as long as it's a learning stretch. Something, anything, you don't already know how to do."

_This will be easy,_ thought Naruto smugly. _I can just pretend to learn how to swim or draw. _If there was anything he was good at, it was drawing and painting. He'd been forced to learn the skills as some form of alternate behavioral correction method. Sadly, it had backfired and he just used it to pull off more elaborate pranks.

The teacher continued, "Now to make sure you're all putting in the effort and actually learning, you must document at least 15 hours of you working on the project, and have it signed off by an advisor who has experience in your area of study."

Audible groaning could be heard at the teacher's words, but it only got worse from there. "At the end of your senior year you will be presenting your finished product, whether it is something you made or just pictures of what you learned, to a panel of volunteer judges, who will decide how you did.

Naruto buried his head in his hands. _So much for pretending._ _Damn it, they're not going to make this easy on us. How am I supposed to find a topic, much less an advisor?_ Truth be told, Naruto wasn't exactly an honor student. He was just as surprised as the rest of his classmates whenever he succeeded in moving on to the next grade each year, and the end of this year looked likely to be yet another series of sleepless nights and prayers to any unseen mystical force that chose to listen. He had absolutely no idea what he could even do his project on.

The advisor was if anything an even more difficult hurdle. Naruto barely knew any adults in more than passing, and the ones he did either knew him as a less than model student, troublesome prankster or worse. He tried to stay clear of them as much as possible.

He didn't have any good friends whose parents he could ask, and it wasn't like he had any family friends. His parents had both passed away right after he was born, and except for his "guardian", no one had ever come up to him claiming to have known his parents.

As panic began to set in, he tried to think of way out of this mess. _Ok, I just need to calm down, I've been in worse situations than this and I've always come out on top. I may not be book smart, but there's no one cleverer than me. Don't think of it as a school project, think of it as a prank. Yeah, that's it; it's no different than the hundreds of pranks I've pulled off over the years. Both require me to come up with something ingenious then reveal it to others. And there is no one better at pranks than me. Just remember what you're aiming for._

His goal in life was to become successful, rich, and famous, to show all of the people who thought he couldn't accomplish anything that he was worth something, to earn their respect; to give them no choice but to respect him. He had long ago figured out that the only way he could do that was with his own will; even if he had to fight the world to do it nothing would stop him, not the adults who hated him for the trouble he caused, not the students who only thought of him as an amusing troublemaker, and certainly not some stupid school project.

His resolve restored, the young man tuned back in just in time to hear his teacher say "-and the paper will be due the day of the final for this class."

"What!" Naruto squawked, causing the rest of the class to stare. "What paper?"

The teacher glared at him. "The paper I was just talking about Naruto. You need to stop daydreaming and pay attention or you won't be able to pass this class." Naruto glared back at him while the rest of the class laughed, so the teacher took pity on him.

"To reiterate, along with the project, there is also an eight to ten page research paper on any topic loosely related to whatever you decided to do your project on, due at the end of the year, and it will count towards your grade for this class. Your proposal is due…"

As his teacher continued listing all the due dates for the various steps of the project, Naruto zoned out again. _Ugh, this paper's going to kill me. How am I going to even pass this class now?_ For the rest of the class Naruto didn't pay attention to anything that happened, trying to find a way out of the mess he was now in. As the bell rang, he was about to leave when his teacher called him and Sakura aside.

"Both of you need to go to the office right now. Kakashi wants to see you."

Kakashi was the counselor for both Naruto and Sakura. Since he always seemed to have better things to do, neither of them had met with him more than a few times since starting high school, so they were understandably surprised that he would want to see them. They were even more confused that he seemed to want to see both of them at once.

"I mean, I can understand him wanting to see you, since you just painted part of the school, but why would he want to see ME?" Sakura fretted, her fingers worrying at her long hair as they waited outside Kakashi's office. "You don't think he thinks I helped you, do you?" panic slowly turning to anger as she turned to him and pointed accusingly at him, "I swear to god Naruto, if I get kicked out for _your_ mess I'm going to murder you!"

Naruto for his part was slowly inching away from Sakura, hoping Kakashi got there soon so they could find out what this was all about. Sakura resumed pacing while occasionally mumbling things under her breath and glaring at him. Thirty minutes later, Kakashi finally showed up.

"What are you two doing in front of my office?" Kakashi asked in surprise.

"Um, you called us down here, didn't you, sir?" Sakura asked, her voice timid again, her hands folded in front of her.

_Damn, she's like a completely different person around him,_ thought Naruto. _Why am I the only one that brings out the angry side of her? _Truth be told, Naruto actually kind of liked that side of Sakura. It showed that there was more to her than most people thought, and made him feel special that he was the one she chose to show it to. Why that was never seemed to cross his mind.

"Oh right, completely skipped my mind. Come on in. You too, Sasuke," Kakashi said, looking over his shoulder.

Naruto turned around in horror to see his arch-rival and resident pretty boy Sasuke Uchiha stand up from the corner where he had been sitting unnoticed and coolly breeze past him into the office. _That bastard just ignored me! One of these days I'm going to punch him in his smug prick face! _Naruto thought angrily to himself as he followed a now blushing Sakura into Kakashi's office.

Kakashi sat down at his desk, pulled out what looked to be a trashy romance novel, and proceeded to read it while they all waited for him to tell them what was going on.

"Hey, you going to tell us why you called us down here, or you just going to continue to jerk us around?" Naruto snapped at him.

Kakashi didn't even look up from his book as he spoke. "Inelegantly put, but you do have a point. As I know you've been told today, you three will each have to complete your senior projects before you can graduate. I called you down here to inform you that as of today, you will be working on your projects together from now until you graduate."

At his words, two shocked voices rang out at once, "_What_!"


	2. The Queen

Chapter 2: The Queen

Kakashi didn't even look up from his book at the outburst. "You heard me. You three are required to work on your projects together. Incidentally, that also includes the research paper, so you may want to start brainstorming ideas soon so you can get it done in time."

"But sir, why do we need to do it as a group? I thought it was supposed to be an independent project?" Sakura asked.

_This makes no sense, the instructions we were handed went out of their way to say all projects should only be done by one person, _she thought._ Why the sudden change?_

"Traditionally the senior project has been a solo project, but in special cases, we can bend the rules a teensy bit," replied Kakashi.

"Special case? What the hell does that mean?" Naruto demanded.

_That idiot is going to make things worse if he doesn't shut up,_ Sakura thought. _Doesn't he realize Kakashi can make the rest year and a half hell for us? I swear to god, if he doesn't shut up, I'm going to kill him. _A small, persistent voice in her head though, agreed with Naruto. _What does he mean by "special case"? _thought the other Sakura. _You're the second rated student in your grade, while Naruto is so low he's almost underground. Moreover, Sasuke's not even in the same English class! Why's he in the group?_

Glancing over at her raven haired classmate she saw that he didn't look annoyed by the news that he was being forced to work with her and Naruto. He looked almost bored. The way his eyes were narrowed as he looked at Kakashi gave him away though. Sasuke was currently the top ranked student, not only in their grade but in the entire school. She doubted he was any less curious than she was.

Sakura tried to look away from his face, but that was hard to do with the voice in her head listing all his best features. _You got to love how mature he looks. All the other students look like boys, but Sasuke, he's a _man_ and he acts like it. He takes things seriously, unlike say Naruto who puts in as little effort as he can. Plus he's in great shape, muscular but not overly so. _She could feel her face getting hot while her treacherous mind continued, _and if you won him that would show all the other girls here who they're messing with._

For a moment, Sakura entertained thoughts of being in the same group as Sasuke, of late nights working on their papers, of meeting at his house to work on the project itself, of learning a new skill, just the two of them, and of the love that would form between her and the handsome young man. However, a certain loudmouth, annoying, little blond kept bursting into her romantic fantasy. _Naruto would just get in the way. It would be a challenge to even complete the thing, much less get Sasuke to fall in love with me._

Sighing, she looked back at Kakashi to see how he would respond to Naruto. An evil glint came to his eyes as he answered cheerily, "To be frank, YOU'RE the special case Naruto. No one on the faculty seems confident you'll actually complete any of the assignment without turning it into a prank. Sakura and Sasuke are two of the highest ranking students at the school, so they should be able to keep you on task."

_Ah ha! So this is Naruto's fault!_ She looked over at Naruto and saw from his expression that he _had_ been thinking about making the entire thing a prank. _I can't say I'm too surprised. But why do they need both f us to help him? One would be enough, and much less complicated._

Sasuke's thoughts seemed to be running parallel to Sakura's, and he spoke up for the first time, his cool voice sending shivers down Sakura's spine. She could just imagine him whispering in her ear, as they lay entwined together….

"Why do you need both of us to help the dunce? Sakura's in his class. She should be enough without getting me involved too."

The insult did not settle well with Naruto who angrily turned to face his schoolmate. "What was that?!"

Kakashi finally put his book down and interrupted them before a fight broke out. "That's enough you two. There's actually one other reason for you three being assigned to a group. Sasuke, you're the brightest student this school has had in years, but you have a problem working with other people. Your teachers are concerned that this inability to be a team player will hurt you in the future, so this is for you as much as Naruto. This will teach you to cooperate with others to achieve a common goal, instead of just going lone wolf all the time."

He turned to Sakura saying, "Sakura, your job is to make sure these two work together and complete the project on time, while putting in as much effort as everyone else in the group. Keep them on task however, don't let them avoid doing their work or do it for them. I know it's a lot to ask, but your teachers all seemed confident you could handle it."

With that, he picked up his book and started reading again. "Have fun you three."

As the three walked out of the office, Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Don't you dare bring me down you jerk, I don't need your help to pass a project this easy."

"Say what you will, but no one else seems to believe that, dunce." With a smirk, Sasuke turned his back on Naruto and started walking away. Naruto for his part looked like he was about to pounce on him.

Before a fight could break out, Sakura cut in, "Stop it you two. We need to start on the papers as soon as possible and decide what to do for the projects."

"Aw, we have months until it's due, what's the rush?" asked Naruto, obviously not looking forward to it.

Sakura rounded on him. "You may not care about your grades, but Sasuke and I do and we're not going to let you ruin them. Each of our papers and projects not only has to be related, it has to be related to what the other two are doing, so we need to sit down and figure it out together. Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned and smiled at her with that smooth grin of his, making her face heat up. "Right. The sooner we get this done, the better." He turned to Naruto. "If you have better things to do though, Sakura and I can get started on it _alone_," his mocking tone turning the last word into something suggestive.

_Yes!_ shouted the voice in her head. _This is your chance. Sasuke is totally hitting on you!_

_Shut up you,_ she thought back. _He's never shown any interest before, so why would he start so suddenly?_ Sasuke was still staring at her, causing her to tear her gaze away from him in embarrassment. She saw the anger on Naruto's face and realized what Sasuke was up to. _He's TRYING to make it look like he's hitting on me so Naruto will join us just to make sure we have no alone time!_

Almost as if on cue, Naruto piped in. "You're right Sakura. Let's all meet today. In fact, why don't we use my place? It's nearby and no one else will be home, so we'll be free to work as long as we need to."

As they walked out to the student parking lot to pick up her and Sasuke's cars, Naruto didn't have one since living so close he didn't need one, Sakura thought about what had just happened. _Naruto didn't even realize Sasuke played him. I almost didn't realize it. Guess he's not interested in me at all,_ she thought dejectedly. Her inner voice however, was not deterred. _So what if he hasn't fallen for you at first sight? You're both going to have to work together for the next year and a half, including on breaks. That's plenty of time to make him yours!_

When they got there, she found out that Naruto lived on the second floor of an apartment complex. Following Naruto inside, Sakura got her first look at her classmate's home. The apartment consisted of a joint kitchen/living room with only one door that probably led into the bedroom. Suddenly, there was a crunch underneath her foot. Looking down, Sakura saw an empty ramen noodle cup. In fact, the entire floor was covered in them and the sink was full of dishes. _It doesn't look like he's ever cleaned this place. And who eats this much ramen?_

Noticing their glances, Naruto looked around sheepishly, as if just realizing the state his place was in. "Sorry about the mess. I don't have that many people over that often so I guess I've gotten used to it."

Sakura put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "What about your guardian? Why doesn't he make you clean this pig sty up?" she demanded.

Naruto looked surprised, almost as if he had forgot about the man just like the mess. "Oh, him? Naw, he doesn't even live here anymore. Hasn't really since I was in elementary school. He's always out traveling researching his next "novel" and stops by once every few months to make sure I haven't been thrown in jail or burned down the building."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Sasuke said, causing Naruto and Sakura to jump in surprise. He hadn't said anything since they left the school so they had almost forgot he was there.

_For someone so smart and handsome, Sasuke sure knows how to blend in. Must be because Naruto is so loud and outrageous he drags all focus to himself_, Sakura thought. The other Sakura mentioned something about her also drawing all of the attention when she was with Naruto, but she tried her best to ignore the voice.

"Frankly," Sasuke continued, "I'm just as surprised you haven't burned this place down either. Not that I can say I expected it to look any differently."

"Guys, we need to focus on the-," Sakura began before Naruto angrily cut her off.

"What's your problem jerk? What did I ever do to piss you off so much?"

The glare Naruto turned on Sasuke was heated enough to make most people cringe, but Sasuke just returned it, his face showing annoyance for the first time.

"My problem is you, dumbass. You think pulling all those pranks make you smart and clever, but they don't. You're just a cocky idiot who needs others to do his work for him. If you think I don't have better things to do than keep you from failing, think again."

"I may not be the best student, but at least I'm not as conceited as you. Hell, even the teachers think their top student is so self-centered he needs a nanny," Naruto retorted.

"ENOUGH!" Sakura yelled, causing both boys to turn and look at her in shock. "You two need to stop bickering like an old married couple and work together or we'll all fail. And I will NOT let that happen, even if I have to tie you both to a chair, got that?"

_You go girl! _chimed in inner-Sakura. _Show them who's boss._

Sasuke nodded, his face calm again, as if the annoyance had never been there. Naruto for his part was just gaping at his crush. She had gotten mad at him before, but never in front of others, and definitely not Sasuke, whom she was always trying to impress.

Smiling innocently Sakura continued, "Good. Now then, does anyone have any ideas for the papers or projects?"

Three hours later, Sakura's anger was returning. Their brainstorming had gotten them nowhere and Naruto had taken to pacing around the room while complaining loudly. "Argh, this isn't working! My brain's throbbing. Can't we call it a day and work on it some other time?"

Sakura was opening her mouth to answer when Sasuke spoke up. "As much as I hate to admit it, the dunce has a point Sakura. This isn't getting us anywhere. Why don't we each come up with a list of ideas tonight and figure it out tomorrow?" Sasuke suggested. "Does that work for both of you?"

Ignoring the insult for once, Naruto agreed. "Yeah there's no point in dragging this on. I'm sure a good night's sleep will get my genius brain running at full capacity again."

Sighing, Sakura stood up from where she was sitting on the couch. She hadn't realized it at first through the mess, but Naruto's apartment was very Spartan. The living room only had the one couch and a coffee table. There wasn't even a television, though she guessed that if he had one there would have been no way the scatterbrain would get any work done.

As she and Sasuke walked out the door, she could hear the inner-Sakura again, urging her to make a move. _You're finally alone with him. Now's your chance! Say something to him!_

Shyly, she asked, "Sasuke, my car's down the street, would you walk me to it to be safe? There're barely any lights and I don't exactly trust the neighborhood."

"Sure," Sasuke said sighing. "It's the least I can do since you were working so hard tonight."

The voice in her head was doing a backflip at his words.

Sakura was so happy and relieved to hear him agree that all the tension from the day left her, causing her to speak a little more freely as they walked than she normally would.

"Thanks Sasuke. You're such a gentleman, unlike Naruto. He's always up to something, like how he painted the side of the school. Doesn't he have anything better to do than drive others crazy? It's because he was badly brought up. You know, because he never had any parents?" At her words, Sasuke looked at her for the first time since they started walking.

"He doesn't have to answer to anyone ever, and it's made him completely selfish," continued Sakura. "If I did the kinds of things he gets away with my parents would ground me for life! Don't you envy him being alone, not having parents nag at you all the time? Kids without families always grow up selfish."

"That and lonely." Sasuke had stopped walking and at his words, Sakura turned around.

"Sasuke?" she asked quietly.

"Being scolded by your parents doesn't even compare!" Sakura had never seen the expression Sasuke was turning on her. It was pure disgust, even worse than anything he had ever turned on Naruto. "You make me sick." With that, he walked away, leaving her rooted to the spot in shock as he faded into the darkness.


	3. The King

Chapter 3: The King

"So, how's your semester so far? Classes going well?"

"Fine," answered Sasuke tersely. "Everything is going fine like always. You should know that, since you make me report to you every week."

Kakashi didn't even look up from his book as he replied, annoying Sasuke more. "I only know what you tell me. You could be lying to me."

"Why would I do that? I know you keep in contact with all my teachers. You probably have a better idea of my grades than I do. If I lied, you'd find out immediately and I'd gain nothing from it."

Sasuke could almost hear the man's smirk. "Always the practical one I see. And lying isn't really your style, is it? But I could see you leaving something out for your own purposes. So, and think hard before you answer, is there anything I should know that you haven't told me?"

In reality, the last month had been one of the most tiring he'd had in a while, and all because he'd lost his cool and blown up at Sakura. If there was one thing Sasuke prided himself on it was always staying calm. As long as you were calmer than everyone else, you were in control, and the person in control always came out on top.

That was one of the reasons he found Naruto so frustrating to deal with. The prankster had a way of naturally pulling others into his flow, which for Sasuke meant making him lose his temper and bicker like two little kids. Kakashi was almost as bad. He seemed to know everything Sasuke was thinking and just what strings he needed to pull to get him to do what he wanted. The fact that the counselor was doing what he thought was best for Sasuke only made it worse. He'd always been able to rely on himself and he didn't need help from someone who was always reading trashy romance novels instead of doing his job.

Sasuke had known Sakura for years. They'd gone to the same schools, though they'd never been particularly close. He had always known what to say or do when around her, how to stay in control. The fact that she had an obvious crush on him, which tended to reduce her common sense only made things easier. Since his outburst though, he had found that much harder to do.

All that night he'd tried to calm down and failed. While he knew Sakura hadn't meant what she'd said, the stress of working with Naruto wore even him down; he couldn't help but take it as a personal insult, since it described him just as well as Naruto. Not many people still remembered, if they had bothered to know in the first place, but seven years ago he'd lost his parents to a robbery gone wrong. There wasn't a day he didn't think about it and he'd sworn to himself that he'd never be that helpless again.

He had been about to decide to just ignore Sakura when he remembered her face. Sasuke didn't know why, but it made a part of him twinge with guilt. _It's not like I did anything wrong, _he thought to himself. _She needed to be told off for acting so pompous, so why can't I get Sakura out of my head? _ In the end, he decided to act like nothing had happened, since it would just get in the way of them finishing the project.

Sakura however, didn't come to school the next day, or the day after that. When he'd asked her friend what was going on, since her absence was making it hard for them to get started on their work, Ino had told him Sakura was sick with the flu that was going around, but should be back by Monday. Sasuke doubted that was the real reason, but Ino seemed to believe it so maybe he was just being paranoid.

When she finally returned on Monday, Sakura acted as if nothing was wrong. Only the way in which she ignored both Sasuke and Naruto showed that something was amiss.

Being ignored suited Sasuke fine, he didn't like dealing with small problems if he didn't need to, but Naruto was different. He didn't like being ignored, and when something concerned Sakura he was considerably less dense than usual. Sasuke suspected she was ignoring Naruto because any conversation they had would lead to talking about the papers she had been so adamant about working on before. Naruto seemed to be thinking the same thing and later that week he cornered Sasuke at lunch.

"What did you do to Sakura you bastard? Why is she ignoring both of us?" demanded Naruto. "If you hurt her, I swear to god I'll-."

"You'll what," Sasuke said cutting him off, "punch me? You couldn't hit me if you tried."

Naruto for his part look like he was about to try when Sasuke continued, "But no, I don't know what's wrong with her. If she's ignoring you maybe you just drove her crazy with all your pestering. Just leave her alone for now. Sakura is a big girl. If she wanted to talk to you about her problems, she wouldn't be ignoring you."

With that he walked away, leaving a frustrated Naruto behind. Between his honors classes and after school courses at the local community college he didn't have time to worry about high school drama, even one he had started.

But as the weeks went on, things didn't get better. Sakura still refused to talk to either of them and was trying her best to avoid them. Every time she saw him or Naruto she looked like she was about to burst into tears, but he wasn't sure if it was just his guilty conscience since no one else seemed to notice.

Naruto's reaction was somehow even more concerning. He seemed to have believed Sasuke's excuse and had stopped with the pranks completely. For the first time in years a person could walk around the school without worrying about something falling, stinking, staining or exploding. This weirdly enough put the entire school on edge, adding to the pressure Sasuke felt building up around him. He knew it was only a matter of time until something snapped, though he had no idea what that would happen when it did.

Pulling himself back to the present he replied "I'm having some problems yeah, but it's a personal. It won't affect my grades so you don't need to worry about it, got it?"

Kakashi held Sasuke's stare for a minute before reading his book again. "Very well. Do what you want, but remember this: If you don't tell me what's going on, I can't bail you out of any mess you get yourself into. It's all on you."

"That's the way it's always been," he replied, and left the office.

"Sasuke!" He turned around at the sound of his name to see Naruto waiting outside. "We need to talk. "

"Can this wait? I need to get to the community college before my class starts," Sasuke replied, barely paying the blonde any attention.

As he tried to walk past, Naruto grabbed his arm and turned him around. He was about to snap at the dunce to let him go when he saw Naruto's face. There was no goofy smile on the prankster's face. It was instead more suited to a life-and-death battle. _And maybe to him that's what this is._

"Now, Sasuke."

"Fine, let me go and then talk."

Naruto released him, but his face stayed serious. "You need to apologize to Sakura."

Sasuke opened his mouth to protest that he had nothing to apologize for but a glare from the newly serious Naruto caused him to choke on the words.

"Look, I don't know what happened between you two but I'm not as dumb as everyone seems to think. Sakura's been a mess since the night we worked on the papers and she was fine when you two left. It's annoying as hell, but you're the only one who could do anything to affect her so much. And you're the only one who can make things right again. You may not like it, but we're a group. That means we need to work together. Sakura's a good person, and she doesn't deserve to fail. So even if I need to beg, please make up with her."

He was surprised at Naruto's words. Sasuke was used to the idiot blustering, bragging or exploding angrily at him, so to hear him pleading, practically begging for Sasuke to do something, stopped him in his tracks. It was almost enough to get him to do what Naruto wanted. Almost.

"Sakura's a good person? What do you know about her?" Sasuke sneered at him. "Would you still say that if I told you that Sakura thinks you're selfish and immature? That we fought because I defended you?"

The look of surprise on Naruto's face was priceless. "What did you just say?" asked Naruto shakily.

Sasuke knew he should stop, that ruining Naruto's opinion of Sakura would only hurt the blonde, and make working as a group impossible, but he couldn't. Some part of him wanted to punish both of them. _He's so infatuated with her that he's blind to any faults, including that she doesn't even care about him. It's damn near hero worship. I'd actually be helping him by relieving him of that belief now. _He knew better than anyone that more often than not the ones you thought were heroes would betray you in the end.

"After we left your house, Sakura started going on about how selfish and immature you are. She said it was because you were an orphan so I told her off for being a self-centered little bit-."

Naruto had been listening to Sasuke with his head down and shoulders slumped. Suddenly, Naruto's shoulders tensed and before Sasuke knew what hit him he found himself sitting on the ground clutching his face. He hadn't even noticed Naruto moving until his fist hit him. The blonde stood over him, a weird expression on his face. As he started to speak, Sasuke realized what it was: pity.

"So Sakura thinks I'm selfish because I have no parents? Maybe she's right. All my life I've been ignored. My god-father was always away. No one ever paid any attention to me, so I started to act out, anything to get people to acknowledge me. Even now my goal is to become successful and famous so that everyone will notice me."

"Sakura though is different. We've never been friends, but I can tell she gets on my case because she actually wants to help me. When she nags me I don't feel so…..alone. Now I think I know why she wasn't talking to me. She must have felt bad about what she said to you. I don't really understand it, but I do know she doesn't want to hurt me or you further. That's enough for me to forgive her. You don't need to do the same Sasuke, but just admit it's not her you're mad at, and not me you were defending."

Sasuke was so dumbfounded he just sat there as Naruto left him. He had always thought of the blonde as a childish prankster who had few friends and fewer brain cells. It seemed now that below that the sunny exterior was a depth that no one even suspected. Would anyone even believe him if he told them what had happened?

Getting up, Sasuke realized how childish he'd been acting the last month. _I knew she didn't mean any harm, but instead I've caused nothing except trouble for her and Naruto. It's as if I was trying to prove Sakura right. _He'd let his anger get the better of him, but Naruto r somehow knocked some sense back into him.

Looking down at his watch he saw it was almost time for his class. _I can still fix this mess if I work quickly. _Jumping into his car, he drove in the opposite direction of the college. He'd never missed class before, but he had no choice if he wanted to get to the store before they ran out of stock.

The next day Sasuke arrived at school early. Ignoring the groups of girls that kept coming up to him, he went looking for Sakura. He found her looking into her locker. Besides a look of puzzlement on her face.

"Sakura!" he called out, causing her to turn around surprised. Sasuke expected her to bolt like usual, but she just stood there as he walked over.

"Sasuke," she said softly, her voice full of emotions he couldn't even begin to recognize.

"Sakura, we need to talk before class. Can you come with me?"

Once again he expected her to leave him standing there, and once again she surprised him.

"Lead the way," she said simply.

That was easier said than done, but they finally managed to lose the girls trying to physically get between them. They ended up under the wall Naruto had painted more than a month ago. No mark of his prank remained, except for a sign on the wall warning the students that defacing school property was punishable by suspension, expulsion, and/or a fine.

Sasuke was still trying to figure out what to say when Sakura beat him to it. "Sasuke, I'm so sorry," said Sakura, the words flooding out. "I shouldn't have said what I did, I wasn't thinking about what I was coming out of my mouth. I was just-"

"Sakura," he interrupted her before she could go on. "About the other day, just forget what I said. Maybe I overreacted," he said scratching his head and looking off in the other direction. "Let's just put this behind us, ok? I mean, if we don't work together, who's going to stop Naruto from failing the project?"

Suddenly Sakura was hugging him. "I forgive you," she whispered. Before he could respond, she had let go and looked down, blushing. "Sorry about that. I guess I need to learn to control myself when the stress disappears."

"Hmph, just don't make a habit of it," he grunted. "Actually, I have one more thing for you, since we're now working together."

Reaching into his bag, Sasuke pulled out a small wrapped box of chocolates. Handing it over to Sakura he continued, "Happy Valentine's Day, Sakura."

As Sakura just stood there in shocked silence, he wondered if he had overdone it after all. _I really hope she doesn't think I'm declaring my love or something. _He was bracing himself for another assault so Sakura laughing hysterically caught him completely off guard.

"What's so funny?"

Suppressing a giggle Sakura replied, "Oh, I just realized that-," before she finished his partner gasped, as if something had occurred to her in mid thought. "You haven't been to your locker yet, have you?"

"No, I came to see you first." He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Oh no reason," she said mischievously, reminding him of a certain blond haired prankster.

Reaching into her own bag, Sakura pulled out another box. "Hope you like chocolate," she said giving him her present.

"So does this mean we're dating now?" she teased him.

He felt his face heat up in embarrassment. "Don't get the wrong idea," he said quickly. "This is just a way of saying sorry, nothing more. I just didn't feel like waiting any longer to get this over with."

Sakura just smiled as he attempted to cover-up his embarrassment. As they parted ways, she turned to him one last time.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you're in my group too, Sasuke," she said.

It wasn't until he got to his locker and looked inside that he understood what Sakura had been talking about. Inside, someone had managed to crack his lock and had left behind a box wrapped in the most outrageous style he had seen, as if the person had tried to make it look as feminine as possible. Inside was, predictably, a box of chocolates. Sasuke looked at the card and burst out laughing, causing people to turn and stare. It was addressed to him and the sender had signed it _From_ _Sakura_, though the handwriting was nothing like hers.

He suspected the reason Sakura had been willing to talk to him was because she had found a similar present in her locker, though hopefully much more masculine, and had realize what had happened when he gave her his present.

Smirking at the irony, Sasuke put both boxes in his locker and shut the door. After school, he would have to thank a certain blonde haired individual for such a romantic Valentine's Day's present.

**AN: To everyone that has been reading so far, thank you and I hope you've been enjoying "One, Two Three". We're at the end of the first arc of the story. The story is set up in three chapter "arcs", one for each of the three main characters.**

**I've always been a big fan of modern AUs, but I noticed that many of those AUs changed the characters' interactions, backstories (Naruto's parents living being a big one), or personalities. So, I wanted to see if it was possible to write one that kept those things the same while just changing the setting and plot. So Naruto is still an orphan and distrusted by society (this will be explained later, since it's the aspect I wanted to keep the most and am the most proud of keeping) and Sasuke still lost his parents at a young age.**

**So once again, thank you to everyone who is reading, and especially reviewing, and I hope you stick with me and enjoy what's to come in later chapters.**


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